It is well known that every time the toilet is flushed after use, thousands of bacteria and virus particles are catapulted into the air, travelling as far as two meters or more out of and up from the toilet bowl as a fine invisible mist. An existing hypothesis refers to the greatest bacterial mist dispersal occurring not during the initial moments of the flush, but rather once most of the water has already left the bowl.
The bacterial mist can remain airborne for over two hours, floating around in the air and spreading over the room to finally settle on and thus contaminating the available surfaces around the toilet. This spread of faeces originating bacteria and/or viruses over the bathroom is undesirable with respect to hygiene and could even cause serious health problems. Examples of surfaces on which deposition of pathogenic micro-organisms or viruses is highly undesirable are toothbrushes, hairbrushes, light switches, and the toilet paper.
There is thus a need to prevent the spread of active airborne micro-organisms and viruses from the toilet after flushing, in particular when pathogenic micro-organisms are involved.
Several attempts have been made to solve the problem of these airborne micro-organisms and viruses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,009 discloses a toilet bowl that has gases and bacteria or virus-laden mist removed directly therefrom by an air evacuation system, both during and after use of the toilet. The disadvantage of such a solution is that it requires a special toilet bowl and a separate and relatively expensive air evacuation system.
WO00/01423 discloses a method of disinfecting or sanitising a space occupied by airborne micro-organisms and/or viruses, which method comprises directing into the space unipolar charged liquid droplets from a spray device containing a disinfecting or sanitising composition. It is not disclosed that the space occupied by airborne micro-organisms and/or viruses is the space inside the toilet bowl. Since the preferred spray device is a domestic pressure-spraying device capable of being hand held, it is evident that the space referred to in this document is open to the user. The use of such a hand-held spraying device has several disadvantages. First of all it is cumbersome to use compared to an automatic sprayer. Secondly, the user is in the same space as the sprayed droplets, and will undoubtedly be in contact with at least a small part of the sprayed composition. Thirdly, since the space containing the airborne micro-organisms and/or viruses is open to the user it is very likely that the user will be contacted by these micro-organisms and/or viruses.
EP-B-1,467,820 discloses an automated sprayer for spraying an enclosure with a liquid cleanser, whereby the sprayer contains a reservoir for holding the liquid cleanser, a pump in fluid communication with the reservoir and a movable spray head having an outlet orifice through which cleanser from the reservoir can be expelled during operation of the pump. The sprayer disclosed by this document also contains an electric motor drive mechanism for operating the pump and also simultaneously moving the spray head.
Although it is mentioned in EP-B-1,467,820 that the enclosure could suitably be a toilet bowl (with the lid in closed position), the automated sprayer disclosed in said document is mainly for use in bath and shower enclosures.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device that is capable of eliminating within a toilet bowl, the airborne micro-organisms and viruses generated during flushing of the toilet. In addition, it is an object of the current invention to provide a device that prevents the airborne micro-organisms and viruses generated during flushing to spread around the bath room.
A further objective of the invention is to provide a device that generates an aerosol of a disinfecting or sanitising fluid. Another objective of the invention is to provide a device that properly sanitizes the toilet after use.
Another object of the invention is to provide a device that reduces the chance that a user of the toilet comes in contact with airborne micro-organisms and viruses and/or disinfecting or sanitising fluid. Another objective of the invention is to provide a device that avoids the user having to reach into the toilet bowl to (re-)place the device. A further objective of the invention is to provide a device that is easy in use.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a device that is small and compact. Another objective of the invention is to provide a device that for environmental and economic reasons only consumes a small amount of a disinfecting or sanitising fluid per use. Another objective of the invention is to provide a device that can be easily re-filled. Another objective of the invention is to provide a device that will work automatically. Another objective of the invention is to provide a device that will only work when the toilet lid is closed. Another objective of the invention is to provide a device that will only be activated at the most appropriate time. Finally, it is an objective of the invention to provide a device that will remain active for an effective amount of time.
It was surprisingly found that one or more of the above objects can be achieved by an automated spraying device according to the present invention, said device being suitable for spraying an enclosure, in particular a toilet bowl. More in particular, it was found that airborne micro-organisms and viruses generated during flushing of the toilet after use can be significantly reduced within the toilet bowl by using the device of the invention, thus avoiding contamination of any surfaces outside the toilet bowl and at the same time sanitizing the inside of the toilet bowl itself. Furthermore, it was found that the inner surface of a toilet bowl including the area under the rim thereof can be properly sanitized by the device of the invention. It is considered that this is the beneficial effect of the aerosol which said device is able to produce.